Painter, Clare (University of New South Wales); Learning Through Language in
Early Childhood; Published by Cassell as part of the Open Linguistics Series;
Hb.:0 304 70056 8; US$69.95/ 45.00
Language is a child's major tool for learning about the world. Through the
everyday, taken-for-granted interactions of everyday conversation, a child not
only learns the mother tongue, but uses it as a resource for thinking and
reasoning. This book presents a rich naturalistic case study of one childs
use of language in the pre-school years from two-and-a-half to five, drawing
on systemic functional theory to argue that cognitive development is
essentially a linguistic process and offering a new description and
interpretation of linguistic and cognitive developments during this period.
The case study examines the child's changing language in terms of its
role in interpreting four key domains of experience --the world of things, the
world of events, the world of semiosis (including the inner world of
cognition) and the construal of cause and effect. It shows how new linguistic
possibilities constitute developments in cognitive resources and prepare the
child for later learning in school.
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